‘Baywatch’ movie gets a new director

I hope this dude knows how to press the slow motion button on his camera, that’s all I’m going to say. With the wave of 80s and 90s nostalgia that has swept over Hollywood like so much runny vomit, it’s a surprise that the Most Popular Television Show In The World, Ever hasn’t managed a reboot. I’m talking about Baywatch, if you didn’t know, which at its peak was aired in 142 different countries and had an audience of more than a billion people. Movie studios have been interested in bringing the property back for a movie – DreamWorks bought the rights in 2004 and Jessica Simpson was attached, for God’s sake. Think about that: they’ve been working on this since people wanted to see Jessica Simpson in a bathing suit.

The project’s been in virtual limbo for the last few years, but now Vulture has the scoop that Paramount (the current studio with the rights) has attached a director. Robert Ben Garant, the co-creator of long-running Comedy Central spoof show Reno 911! is helming the project. Previously attached was Jeremy Garelick, who did rewrites on The Hangover, but his script was discarded in favor of a new one by Rescue Me‘s Peter Tolan. It’s still up in the air whether more rewrites will happen or if Garant will dance with the one that brought him.

So what would you like to see in a Baywatch movie? Some casting rumors have included both Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake. Should they bring the old cast back? Completely new cast? Can David Hasselhoff pull himself together enough to get back into the red trunks again? So many questions to be answered.